I grew up loving rice, longing for a spoonful of fluffy, steamy, white rice cooked the tasty way so typical of my mother. I wasn't born in a rice laden country, nor do I have the privilege of having even the slightest drop of oriental blood in my family tree (to my knowledge). But in my culture of origin rice is a delicacy. Most of us back home just cannot make it through the day without rice. Even at breakfast, as warmed up leftovers from the evening meal of the previous day, rice mixed with a local omelette that sees the charm of the eggs enhanced by finely chopped green onions and red tomatoes makes life worth living. You're right. I was brought up as a country boy.
Thus, when I hear that the price of rice is skyrocketing I cannot help but feel alarmed. A cluster of factors are making it more difficult to put rice in billions of bowls:
- Poor harvests resulting from extreme weather
- A rise in demand in some rice-importing countries, where populations and incomes are growing
- The expectation of further price increases - resulting in hoarding
- Low stockpiles and a long term lack of agricultural investment
As it always happens, the poor are already being sorely hit by these developments. Countries that depend on rice aids will see their supplies greatly reduced.
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